EAM meets US Treasury Secretary Bessent on economic partnership
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and held a discussion on advancing bilateral economic partnership and strategic cooperation. “Pleased to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington DC today. Had a useful discussion on advancement of India-US economic partnership and strategic cooperation,” Jaishankar said in an X post on Tuesday. In a post, Bessent said he enjoyed his meeting with Jaishankar.
“During our talks, we addressed the importance of securing supply chains, as well as other national and economic security issues of mutual interest,” he said. Jaishankar is on a visit to the United States from February 2-4 and will participate in the Critical Minerals Ministerial meeting convened by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday. Jaishankar also held bilateral discussions with Rubio at the State Department, when the two “welcomed” the trade deal reached between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and also discussed “formalising” bilateral cooperation on critical minerals exploration and mining.
Jaishankar’s meeting with both Bessent and Rubio came a day after Trump announced on Truth Social that India and the US agreed to a trade deal under which Washington will bring down the reciprocal tariffs it imposed on New Delhi from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.
